Import & Export

Import and export Word documents to and from text, Markdown, and HTML formats

Convert Word documents to and from text, Markdown, and HTML formats.

Importing Content

From Plain Text

Split paragraphs on double newlines:

text = "Line one\n\nLine two\n\nLine three"

// Via BIF argument
word( text=text ).save( "from-text.docx" )

// Via instance method (appends to existing document)
word( "template.docx" )
    .fromText( text )
    .save( "appended.docx" )

From Markdown

Uses CommonMark parsing — supports headings, paragraphs, lists, code blocks, blockquotes, links, and thematic breaks:

markdown = "
## Introduction

This is a paragraph with **bold** and *italic* text.

- Item 1
- Item 2
- Item 3

> A blockquote

`inline code`
"

// Via BIF argument
word( markdown=markdown ).save( "from-markdown.docx" )

// Via instance method
word().fromMarkdown( markdown ).save( "from-markdown.docx" )

From HTML

Uses Jsoup parsing — supports headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, images, links, and basic formatting:

html = "<h1>Title</h1><p>Hello <b>World</b></p><ul><li>Item 1</li><li>Item 2</li></ul>"

// Via BIF argument
word( html=html ).save( "from-html.docx" )

// Via instance method
word().fromHTML( html ).save( "from-html.docx" )

Supported HTML Elements

HTML Element

Word Output

<h1>–<h6>

Heading (level 1–6)

<p>

Paragraph

<br>

New line

<b>, <strong>

Bold text

<i>, <em>

Italic text

<ul>

Unordered (bulleted) list

<ol>

Ordered (numbered) list

<li>

List item (supports nesting)

<table>, <tr>, <td>, <th>

Table

<a href="...">

Hyperlink

<img src="...">

Image (base64 data URIs supported)

<pre>, <code>

Monospace paragraph

<blockquote>

Indented, italic paragraph

<hr>

Page break

Exporting Content

To Plain Text

Extracts all visible text including tables (tab-separated), headers, and footers:

doc = word( "report.docx" )
plainText = doc.toText()

Output example:

Report Title
Introduction paragraph.
Further details.
Product	Price	Stock
Widget A	$10.00	150
Widget B	$15.00	200
[Header] Company Confidential
[Footer] Page 1

Table cells are separated by tabs (\t). Headers and footers are prefixed with [Header] and [Footer] markers.

To Markdown

Converts to Markdown with:

YAML front matter (title, author, subject from document properties)
# headings with proper level
Pipe-delimited tables
**bold** / *italic* formatting
Base64-embedded images
Blockquoted headers and footers

doc = word( "report.docx" )
markdown = doc.toMarkdown()

Output example:

---
title: "Q4 Report"
author: "Jane Doe"
---

# Report Title

Introduction paragraph.

| Product | Price | Stock |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Widget A | $10.00 | 150 |
| Widget B | $15.00 | 200 |

> **Header:** Company Confidential
> **Footer:** Page 1

To HTML

Converts to a full HTML document with:

Semantic heading tags (<h1>–<h6>)
Standard <table> structure with <thead>/<tbody>
Inline styles for bold, italic, color, size, and font family
Base64-embedded images
<footer> elements for headers and footers

doc = word( "report.docx" )
html = doc.toHTML()

Output example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Q4 Report</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Report Title</h1>
<p>Introduction paragraph.</p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Product</th><th>Price</th><th>Stock</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Widget A</td><td>$10.00</td><td>150</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
<footer style="border-top:1px solid #ccc;">
  <p><em>Header: Company Confidential</em></p>
  <p><em>Footer: Page 1</em></p>
</footer>
</body>
</html>

Format Conversion Pipeline

Chain import and export for format conversion:

// HTML → Word → Markdown
html = "<h1>Article</h1><p>Content with <b>bold</b> text.</p>"
markdown = word( html=html ).toMarkdown()
// # Article
//
// Content with **bold** text.

// Markdown → Word → HTML
md = "## Hello\n\nWorld"
html = word( markdown=md ).toHTML()

// Text → Word → Markdown
text = "Title\n\nParagraph one\n\nParagraph two"
md = word( text=text ).toMarkdown()

Fidelity Notes

Not all formatting is perfectly preserved in round-trip conversions. Key considerations:

Direction

Preserved

Lost

Word → Text

Visible text, table structure

All formatting, images, headers

Word → Markdown

Headings, tables, bold/italic, images (base64)

Exact font/size/color, custom styles

Word → HTML

Headings, tables, bold/italic, colors, fonts, images (base64)

Custom paragraph spacing, section breaks

Markdown → Word

Headings, paragraphs, lists, bold/italic, code, links, blockquotes

Embedded images become links

HTML → Word

Headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, bold, links, base64 images

CSS classes, external stylesheets

Text → Word

Paragraph structure (double-newline split)

All formatting

User Guide Formatting Fluent API

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Last updated 11 days ago

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Importing Content

From Plain Text

From Markdown

From HTML

Supported HTML Elements

Exporting Content

To Plain Text

To Markdown

To HTML

Format Conversion Pipeline

Fidelity Notes

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